A Moment Later
by birdlungs
Summary: She was sure he was dead, but then he opened his eyes.


**A/N: All rights to Fairy Tail belong to Hiro Mashima.**

"NATSU!" Lucy screamed as she watched Natsu's body fall limply to the ground below after being struck by another one of the Etherious demon's attacks. She watched helplessly as he crashed into the ground, a plume of smoke enveloping his body.

Lucy immediately scrambled to her feet, despite the pain in her legs that screamed at her with every step that she took. She could already feel tears burning her eyes, threatening to spill over, but she refused to let them fall. "Natsu!" She called, hoping for a response, but her heart simply broke even more when there was none.

When she finally reached his seemingly lifeless body, the smoke had settled all around, revealing a very battered and bloodied Natsu. A sharp gasp involuntarily escaped Lucy's lips and her hand shot to her mouth, stifling the sobs that were quickly making their way up. During the entire fight, Natsu had been so far away from Lucy that she couldn't tell just how bad of a beating he had been taking. Now she could see.

"Oh, Natsu… Why do you push yourself so far?" She murmured, her voice trembling, cringing at the shouts and cries of pain from her teammates in the distance. They didn't stand a chance against this demon without Natsu.

Realizing the potential gravity of his condition Lucy placed her head on his chest, listening for any signs of life, but it was impossible to hear anything above the commotion of her teammates fighting for their lives. "Dammit, Natsu, wake up!" Lucy suddenly cried into his bare chest, gripping so tightly onto his tattered jacket that her knuckles turned white. "Can't you hear Erza and Gray fighting!? They need you! They can't defeat it without you, Natsu!"

Lucy looked up, her arms still wrapped around his limp body as if he would just float away if she let go. She shook him, screamed for him to wake up, but there was still no reaction. There were no signs that he was even still alive. The trembling blonde quickly looked over her shoulder at the sound of Erza calling out to Gray, just in time to see him falling unconsciously towards the ground just as Natsu had. With a cry of anger loud enough to send a shiver down Lucy's spine, Erza re-quipped to her Purgatory armor and lunged after the demon once again.

Lucy looked back at Natsu, the tears that she had been fighting so hard to keep in now flowing freely down her dirt-covered cheeks. "Natsu, please," she sobbed, burying her face into his chest again. "Please, wake up! Erza needs you! _I_ need you," her voice cracked as soon as she realized what she was saying. If this was really the end of Team Natsu, she couldn't take the feelings she had locked away for so long to her grave. She needed to tell him, even if he couldn't hear her anymore.

"What do you expect me to do if you die here like this!? I can't.. I can't lose you, Natsu!" Sobs racked her chest, her heart-broken tears fell onto his chest but she didn't care. "You have to get up! You have to keep fighting, because I _love_ you, Natsu!" Lucy paused, her sobs taking over every other function. "I love you," she managed to repeat in between broken cries. "Please don't leave me."

"I'm not.. Goin' anywhere, Lucy," a familiar but weak voice suddenly sliced through her tears of anguish. Lucy's head shot up as Natsu started pushing himself up with his arms

"Natsu!?" She exclaimed in shock and pure relief that he was alive. Then again, she should know by now that it would take a lot more than one slightly over-powered Etherious demon to take him out.

Lucy leaned back in order to give him enough room to stand up on his own, Natsu grinning as he did so. Once he was back on his own two feet, he clenched his fists at his side, looking up at the demon with a new-found flame in his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere as long as I've got a fire in my belly!" He proclaimed. "ERZA!" He cried out, catching her attention just as she temporarily paralyzed the demon. Lucy could see the relief on her face at the sight of Natsu standing, even from such a distance. "Let's do a Unison Raid!" Natsu proposed, which transformed Erza's look of relief to a surprised one. Neither of them had ever pulled one off, especially not together, but with their magical abilities combined… They were sure to defeat this demon once and for all. Without a second thought, Erza nodded her head in approval.

Natsu looked back down to Lucy, who remained on the ground because of the pain and soreness her entire body felt. "Don't worry, Lucy, I'll come back to you," he promised her, his eyes burning with a spark she had never seen before. Lucy smiled softly, wiping her cheeks dry as she nodded her head. "I know you will," she replied with a sniffle just before he leapt into the air.

Lucy watched from the ground in awe as Erza and Natsu met on the ledge of a small nearby cliff so that they could be more eye level with the demon they were faced with. After noticing them exchanging a few words, Natsu grabbed Erza's armored shoulder firmly as she repeated the gesture. They each turned their attention back to the demon as it approached them, their magical auras quickly engulfing each of them, expanding as they surprisingly easily melded together resembling something like magma to Lucy. Erza and Natsu were definitely powerful in their own rights, but together… Lucy could only imagine what they could do.

Suddenly, Lucy witnessed as Erza summoned a fairly large amount of her assortment of weapons and the celestial mage couldn't help but smile proudly as Natsu raised his flaming fist into the air, pointing towards the sun with his index finger as each weapon was encased in his bright, powerful flames.

The burning weapons struck the demon with such power and force that they emitted a vigorous gold light, blinding Lucy with its brilliance but blanketing her with a protective warmth that she had become quite familiar with.

When the light began to fade and the debris from the fallen demon settled, Lucy lowered her arms from her eyes to see the silhouette of a figure standing in front of her. She narrowed her eyes as Natsu's grinning face came into focus. He offered his hand to her and she didn't hesitate to take it.

"You did it," she sighed as Natsu pulled her to her feet.

"I couldn't have done it without you, weirdo!" He quickly replied.

Lucy felt her cheeks flush as she recalled everything she had confessed to him just moments before the regained consciousness. There was no taking any of it back now, not that she wanted to anyways. "Natsu, I—"

Lucy was cut off by a sudden tug on her arm, bringing her closer to Natsu as he placed a firm, warm kiss on her lips. Her brown eyes widened in surprise at Natsu's sudden gesture but she quickly melted into his embrace, leaning into the kiss. A moment later, Natsu pulled away from her just far enough for him to rest his forehead against hers reassuringly. They didn't share another word, but they didn't need to. Lucy understood Natsu, and he understood her.

Natsu turned his head when he heard footsteps, spotting Erza and Gray approaching with Erza almost entirely supporting Gray.

"Alright, lovebirds," Gray managed, his voice weak but still containing a hint of sarcasm. "How about we head home now so you guys can get a room?"

"Who asked you to open your trap, pervert!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed, jumping away from Lucy and pointing at Gray threateningly.

Lucy let out a small, half-hearted laugh and Erza smiled, amused. Despite how much of a beating they had just suffered it seemed like things would always remain the same, and Lucy was perfectly okay with that.

 **I'm sorry if this is over-done or cliche, but I got the idea for it from a writing prompt I saw the other day and I just had to get it out. Plus, I feel like this is more or less how their first kiss would go down.**

 **I think this is where I'm going to just dump all of my NaLu one-shot/writing prompts when they come to me, so if you have a prompt or something you would like to see me do, feel free to leave a suggestion and if I feel inspired enough I'll do it. :)**

 **Thanks for reading, and have a great day!**

 **-Birdy**


End file.
